Toshiba appoints new CEO to revamp the company

Lora Ball |Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Toshiba appoints outsider as new boss to bring it back from the brink

Kurumatani, who is now president of CVC Asia Pacific Japan, a unit of British private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, will take up the Toshiba posts on April 1, the Japanese electronics and machinery maker said.

"This company has a long and impressive record of creating new technologies and turning them into massive businesses and I see my most important responsibility as reactivating this DNA", says Kurumatani.

Kurumatani, now the president of the Japanese arm of European private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, is a former deputy president of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, one of Toshiba's main lenders, which often have a strong influence on its management decisions. The current CEO, Satoshi Tsunakawa, becomes COO.

Nobuaki Kurumatani will take over as CEO in April and oversee the sale of the $18bn (£13bn) chip unit, despite opposition from some activist shareholders. The nuclear power company went bankrupt in 2017. They are now focusing on selling crown jewel memory units. The new CEO will have to face a lot of challenges in restoring the dignity of the company.